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Outdoor Education & RecreationChristopher Pyle (154)    Christopher Pyle    Action Whitewater Adventures Got Action? Simple Ideas for Adult Time OutPosted Wednesday, May 13, 2009 (194 days 5 hours ago.) Viewed 13 times. Are you one of the tens of thousands of people who are logging longer hours, often off the clock. Are you playing less and stressing more? Our stress is coming in an ever greater flow, from ever diverse areas. It seems many of us are logging these hours not because of overtime, rather we're simply trying to produce more, trying to save our jobs. Think of puppy love or simply the act of falling in love. Some people are addicted to this, the rush. Remember? You can stay up all night, eat a grain of rice and feel contentedly full for 2-weeks. You seemingly need nothing but the relationship to exist. Love is the ultimate compliment, the pinnacle of kindness. Thus, ordinary kindness has a similar impact on one's life, though admittedly not as powerfully. Reports demonstrate positive work environments are good for morale, employee retention and production; however, too many work places employ punishing and grinding work places. They wear their employees down and expect top performance. Look to other countries as examples as well. Many European countries are proactive in making sure their workforce has 'holiday'. Many of the travelers I've met have upwards of 6-weeks of leave each and every year. In Asian countries it's not uncommon to see the workforce exercising together at their place of employment. We've heard of the 'siesta'. Many Latin based cultures close in the afternoon, for siesta, the businesses close down and folks relax. My intent is to encourage you for you. I know, as well as anyone, there are many times in our lives we must do what we must do and if that means long hours, we have to log them. Too, I know, as do you, we need to rest. We're human. Our bodies have requirements. Thus, you should take a few moments for you, time to recuperate, time to recharge. The quickest, most basic of getaways can be extremely rejuvenating. Get up early and take a stroll with your favorite cup of coffee. At work, get away from the office, take a walk. Take a mini vacation on the weekend, somewhere on the cheap. Head for the hills if you live on the coast and to the coast if you live in the hills, or to a lake, etc. Time away is supposed to be simple and easy to adjust too. We're people who've given all this up and constantly have our noses on the proverbial grindstone. We're looking for little steps, for a balancing of your time. If you have the means, look into something a bit bigger, perhaps something out of your comfort zone. Look for a trip with something like the Sierra Club. Or better yet, look into an adult camp, like a youth summer camp but with adults. Get out, get to know some new folks, challenge those muscles, those bones and dare the child in you to come out and play again. Look, they have kid camps, they have family camps so, why not an adult camp? Getting out and about in nature is cathartic. There's something about being outdoors that inspires, encourages and supports healthy balancing. So, step outside of the box, do something unexpected and reap the benefits of a camp that challenges you emotionally & physically. The food is great, the staff phenomenal and new friends are always great to meet. For myself, it took some serious indicators before I began creating that time for me: a little heart thing, gained a hundred pounds, put the fun-time of family life second to nearly everything, etc. We're working the long hours and going the extra-mile, for what? Certainly it must be for something and if not for ourselves and our loved ones then is it worth all the sacrifice? When you begin making this time for yourself, don't be discourage, for even the act of setting time aside to set time aside will be difficult. Unfortunately, it's a new skill but it's a worthwhile skill and I encourage you to reap the benefits of time focused on you. I've been carving out the little time, getting balanced, getting healthier again. I've done some of the things suggested above. I think for all the talking heads on television and in our radios telling us to do this and avoid that, far too few of them are reminding us, to do for us. It is our lives we're leading after all. So, get out, do something for you, no matter how small. Today, I rode my bike for 40-minutes with my teenage daughter, best time I had all weekend. It was free, it was only 40-minutes but it was good. The rest of the weekend, I've been on this computer! Christopher Pyle is the owner/director of Action Whitewater Adventures of California. He has an adventure summer camp for teens and is offering a mini summer camp for adults this year. If you're interested in a mini-break, and would like to get together with adults, in a completely new and exciting venue, check out their camp page, make contact and share your interest in the adult program. 
Permalink Comments (0) Going Green Does Not Mean Difficult: Easy Steps to Green UpPosted Monday, May 11, 2009 (195 days 9 hours ago.) Viewed 27 times. There is a debate about global warming. Some feel there isn't such a thing. I know where I stand on the issue, as most of us do. We each know our position. Rarely are we middle of the road. Whether you're firmly in the YES, the globe is warming or NO, the globe is doing it's normal cycle, I believe there are some things we can agree upon. We can agree, these things are just good for the world around us, simple to do and easy enough to employ without feeling forced or as if we're taking up some cause. I think the focus on cleaning things up is a good, a positive. You could drive yourself crazy trying to have no carbon footprint but there are some things we can do that are simple, many are even free. Much of daily lives are surrounded by technological advances that made aspects of life easier. Think about the napkin. A simple, mass produced paper product that made take-away food much, much easier. Paper towels? So very convenient. Now we realize how much wood is required to make our throw away face wiping products. At our home, we gone back to tea towels. We throw them in with laundry we would be doing anyway and we're reusing towel. As a special bonus, cloth is so much nicer on my baby fresh face! Get back into local foods. Often you'll find these are all natural and/or organic foods. I've found some people recoil from these terms, as if I'm trying to convert them into something uncivilized. Some people think this means they'll be wearing linen tunics, leather sandals made from the carcass of animals that have died from natural causes, certified of course, banned from razors and forced to change their names to something akin to Wandering River Love, or something of the sort. There are growing studies on the benefits of all natural/organic foods for both the environment and ones own health but you don't need to switch for these environmentalists. Switch for yourself. You'll most often be supporting local businesses, that's good for your community. Too, you find food has something called, FLAVOR. Yea, this is so good, the foods are better tasting from meats, to vegetables to fruits, they taste good! Ditch the plastic water bottles. I know, they're so flippin' convenient: They are! I still grab one on occasion when I'm out and I need water and I've forgotten mine. Remember, I said this is the easy tip article, the no guilt, the realistic. There are new studies on BPAs, bad chemical stuff emitted from certain plastics. Nalgene, you can find them at their name DOT COM, is now making BPA free bottles. You can check them out. There are metal bottles, often completely recyclable. Glass bottles are making a surge too. You can check out LoveBottleDOTnet (I'm typing these web addy's because the article companies don't like a lot of links in the articles, so, I'm trying to give you the resource and comply to guidelines). If you get a decent filtration system at home, Brita and PUR are two that are out there. You can use tap water with an added filter. There are new studies claiming tap water is often better for you than bottled water because municipal water districts aregoverned by the EPA having to test many times daily and water bottle companies are governed by the FDA only required to test once a week and are not held to as strict of standards. So, long and the short of it, tap water is better! Crazy but, okay. Buy recyclable packaging or reduce packaging. I love liquid laundry detergent but we're switching to powdered so we can go with the recyclable cardboard box. Easy, no stress, simple. Often if I run into a store and only grabbed one or two things, I decline the store bag. Do I really need a bag for the 1/2-gallon of milk I just picked up? Personal preference here but I don't bag my potatoes or cucumbers, stuff like that. Sometimes we need to find a little motivation and for this next one my wallet is my motivation. I switched all the light bulbs in the house to the little twisting CFLs, they burn far cooler than traditional bulbs. For typical 60-watts of light, I was using 13-watt bulbs! The second thing, and this is the one I needed motivation for, I plugged my televisions, dvd players and lights into power strips. Most appliances, including your cell phone charger, will draw power even when "not" in use. This is supposed to make them start faster. I just read a review that warned, if you used the "full shut off mode" for this particular television, it would take 10-whole seconds for the screen to light up. Well, I did install the strips AND, I cut my bill in 1/2!! Something simple and quick, once a day, when you're online. Get a Facebook account, FREE, install the "lil Green Patch", FREE, and enjoy an online garden. From your online garden you pick as many friends as the program allows and send them an online plant for their online garden. Every 10 friends you send a cute little flower too, FREE, equals 1 saved square foot of rain forest, in real life. It's easy and the plants are cute little people plants. According to the ACEEE, the greenest car in the US, for the 6th straight year is the Honda Civic. A cool site that is helping kids around the globe with shoes, is Toms Shoes DOT com. Check out Green Is Sexy DOT org for a bunch of commentary on green and whatnot. As a bonus, you'll learn it was founded by Rachel McAdams, an actress. Sometimes doing good for goodness sake is rewarding. I hope the tips and ideas here are easy and worthy of your consideration. Christopher Pyle is owner of Action Whitewater Adventures of California, an American River outfitter and Director of Summer Adventure Camps featuring whitewater rafting: teen rafting camps
Permalink Comments (0) There's Great Value in this Vacation GetawayPosted Sunday, April 26, 2009 (210 days 10 hours ago.) Viewed 11 times. Here are the basics you need to know to have the confidence to book a whitewater rafting trip for your next vacation. There are a lot of misconceptions and unknowns about this vacation option. When you know what to expect, what's protecting you, what you get for each dollar spent, you'll quickly conclude this is one of the most memorable, doable and valuable vacations you'll experience. Let's start at the very beginning, what is whitewater rafting? This is the maneuvering of a vessel down a river. Rafting implies the vessel is a coast guard approved raft, more on equipment in a bit. This raft can be maneuvered in a variety of ways, by one person with large oars rigged to the raft, with a group of people holding individual paddles and led by a guide calling paddle instructions (most common) or in a combination referred to as an oar-paddle combination with the oarsman in the rear compartment of the raft acting as both the major power and the guide calling instructions. Rivers are exactly that, flowing water from some elevation working its way towards some body of water. Most rivers are given a class-rating for rafting. This helps folks determine the intensity of the ride. Most rivers are graded on a scale of I to VI. A I is near flat water with little current and class VI is un-runnable in a raft. While this can mean Niagara Falls, it also means the stream running alongside a road. This classification is specific to rafts, as different watercraft such as kayaks can run incredibly intense areas. For the average rafter, class II to IV is doable with class III being the sweet spot. This is why the South Fork of the American River in Northern California is such a popular river. It's a class III offering fun pop for most everyone, it's great for families, youth groups, the young (about 7 years of age (give or take depending on the child's psyche)) to the active elderly (80+ depending on activity level). The typical raft trip includes: a professional whitewater guide. These people, male and female alike, are quality boatmen who make their living whitewater rafting. Some follow summer around the globe, literally. Don't be surprised if you meet your guide and hear a New Zealand accent or the aboot of a Canadian, ay. They are used to the river you're rafting, they're used to folks of all fitness and competency levels. They know how to read water and navigate the river you're rafting. You can have complete comfort in the professional in the back of your boat. Don't forget, if you enjoyed your trip, tip your guide. It's very appreciated and completely acceptable on a raft trip. The average guide earns about $65 dollars a day and their average day runs some 10 - 14 hours. It's a lifestyle choice, not a retirement option. Your trip also includes a whitewater raft. These boats are specifically designed for the use of whitewater rafting, they're incredibly tough. There are two materials commonly used in crafting a raft: Hypalon a rubber based material and Urethane/PVC a plastic based product. These boats can smash rocks, pound waves and take people climbing in and out of them for quite a few years. Please do make sure you rinse your feet before climbing into the raft however, sand is the worst enemy of a raft, it wears holes in the seams and causes leaks. The average whitewater raft costs nearly $5000.00. You'll most probably be handed a paddle so you can do your part to get down the river. The paddle will be near 6' in length, an aluminum shaft coated in a colored plastic with a durable plastic blade. You'll be fit in a class V coast guard approved personal flotation device (PFD). These vests will float the small to the quite large. They're the most buoyant, top of the line PFDs in use today. More and more outfitters are providing their guests with helmets. The helmets will vary in design but they're made for getting wet, are light weight and a smart thing to wear. In many other countries wearing a helmet is not an option, everyone dons a helmet. Outfitters exposed to foreign guides are adopting, by choice these safer rafting practices and providing their guests with helmets. It depends on the river but speaking about the American River and the outfitters that run that river, you will receive a gourmet deli-style lunch, often right on the banks of the river. There are small variances between companies but a typical lunch will look like this: 2 - 3 bread choices, sprouts, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, onions, 2 cheeses, 2 meats, mayo, mustard, pb&j, chips, fruit, cookies and water. If you're on an overnight trip, your camping is paid, your dinner is made and served by staff, breakfast the same another day rafting and another lunch. The typical price for whitewater rafting is near $100 per day, per person. When you consider all you get, professional guide, professional equipment, the unique opportunity to see the beauty of a river canyon in a way you couldn't see otherwise, the opportunity to travel through whitewater rapids, an excellent lunch and stories to tell over and over. I often compare the cost of whitewater rafting to the cost to visit Disneyland. My whole family loves Disneyland. When you go to Disneyland you're not provided a personal guide, you're not fed, you're not experiencing something natural and majestic and most often you're paying more than you will for whitewater rafting. Value is in perception and knowledge. It's our hope this brief article on basic whitewater rafting knowledge will help you to overcome some fears you may had with regard to the unknown and has encouraged you to try this incredible and affordable vacation.
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